1295: Co-Op, Counter-Op

I like cooperative modes in games, though usually only when I get the opportunity to do so with people I know and trust. Co-op gameplay is often reliant on communication, you see, and as has been well-documented here in the past, I often feel a little uncomfortable when forced to communicate with strangers. I’m usually all right when it comes to text-based chat, but voice chat? No no no. Thank you.

I’ve had a few great co-op experiences over the years. Actually, one of them wasn’t co-op at all — it was “counter-operative” in Perfect Dark for the Xbox 360. This mode, somewhere between traditional co-op and competitive multiplayer, cast one player in the role of the usual protagonist, and the other in the role of all the enemies in the level. If the protagonist character dies, the counter-operative wins; if the counter-operative player dies, meanwhile, they simply shift to another body and continue until no enemies are left.

One of my favourite instances of this game mode came when I was playing with my friend Calin on the first level of Perfect Dark — a level that had already played host to some frighteningly competitive speedruns between my friends and I. Calin was the Counter-Operative, I was the protagonist. Wandering through the level, I was surprised to discover there didn’t appear to be a single trace of any enemies. I made my way down through the building, as you were supposed to do in the level, and got to the bottom. Still no enemies.

Suddenly… BIFF. My gun was knocked from my hand and my vision blurred. I’d been hit over the back of the head. I wheeled around to discover the only remaining enemy in the level — Calin had been through and, before I’d got there, systematically eliminated all his “extra lives,” as it were — and it was coming down to a fist fight. By this point, we were both in stitches, which made flailing wildly at each other all the more difficult. I forget who “won” — probably me, because the protagonist has significantly more health than generic fodder enemies — but it was a hilarious experience.

My other favourite co-op experience is in Saints Row The Third. Saints Row’s co-op is great because it’s just the exact same game as in single-player, only there’s two people running around causing chaos instead of just one. You can work together to complete missions, or participate in all the silly activities together, adding your scores together in an attempt to reach the various targets. Alternatively, you can both just tool around the open world completely separately if you desire, independently causing chaos. It’s a lot of fun, particularly given the diverse array of different activities on offer in the world of Saints Row — one minute you might be flinging yourself in front of vehicles in order to commit insurance fraud; the next, you might be working your way through a “killing floor” gauntlet on the city of Steelport’s favourite hyper-violent gameshow.

Having completed Saints Row IV over the weekend, I’m particularly keen to try that in co-op, as the single player was ridiculous enough. For those unfamiliar with the fourth installment, it’s set in the same game world as Saints Row The Third, albeit a computer simulation of it instead of the “real” world. This means there’s Tron-style visual effects all over the place, but more importantly it means you have “superpowers” such as super speed and a ridiculous Crackdown-style jumping ability. I can only imagine the ridiculous situations that will result from not one but two superpowered nutcases boinging around the city rooftops. I’m looking forward to trying it when the retail version of the game becomes available in two weeks.